RSL's Horst making strides

There’s a very encouraging sign for RSL’s depth at center back this year. David Horst is actually fit.

Those who watched him train or play in reserve games last year could always tell that something was missing — and that something was his fitness. He came into training camp below everyone else on the fitness level scale and was playing catch-up all season. That’s not the case this year.

Following Wednesday’s fitness beep test, all the rage was about rookie Raphael Cox setting a new team record. As impressed as coach Jason Kreis was with Cox’s performance, he added this little nugget when I chatted with him after practice.

“Fitness is king. I really think that you don’t even begin to see how players can play until they’re fully fit. So there’s no fatigue issues. You don’t deal with fatigue in the training sessions, you don’t deal with lack of focus because of fitness, once you have that kind of pace. Then you can seehis soccer qualities,” he said.

“We see another fine example of that with David Horst. Last year he was a guy who could just never catch up in fitness. This year he’s in a middle of the pack in fitness testing. Now we’re starting to see what a quality player David Horst is, and he’s had a fantastic preseason.